


Lesson Learned

by garilin



Series: 10-Word Prompt Fics [2]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, Post-Movie(s), Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 14:55:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12111174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/garilin/pseuds/garilin
Summary: Jack Frost has endured near-constant solitude for three centuries. He refuses to go back to that.





	Lesson Learned

A few months after Pitch had fallen victim to his own nightmares, Jack is, once again, alone. He isn't sure what he expected. The Guardians--other Guardians, he corrects himself with no small amount of pride--lead busy lives, Tooth and Sandy especially.

But it's _July_. Easter has passed. Christmas is still half a year away. Where is everyone? They've already proven they could pop into Jack's life without a moment's notice, so why hadn't they? Did the Guardians simply not spend much time together outside of crises, secure in their millennia-old friendships? What did a handful of months--or _years--_ mean to beings so old? How long had it been, exactly, since they had each passed through the gateway of death? Maybe Jack was the only one who had died and everyone else had simply...become something new. 

The sky was lit by a flash of lightning. Thunder roared in Jack's ears, making him flinch. He did not fear the storm he traveled in, trusting Wind to safely steer him to Tooth's. It was comforting to know where each of the Guardians lived, to know where to go to find them. Jack himself had no home. He might be fond of Burgess, but he preferred the life of a drifter. As a spirit of winter, he spent part of the year in one hemisphere and another part in the other.

It took a long time for Jack to reach Tooth's Palace, long enough for the storm to shrivel and die around him. As planned, he touched down in the mid-afternoon. He figured she wouldn't be so busy at this time of day, but what if he was mistaken? Would she be angry with him? Should he have warned her he was coming? How could he have done that?

He felt so miserable he could choke. Before he could collapse under his jagged emotions, a buzzing sound assaulted his ears. Peering up from under his lashes, he spotted a distortion in the air a dozen yards away. As it got closer, he started being able to make out individual members of the swarm. Swarm. It was a swarm of baby teeth coming at him, little wings flapping as quickly as they could.

A smile crept up onto Jack's face unbidden as he was engulfed in a much different storm then before. Their excited chittering was music to his ears. He laughed, gleeful with the adoring attention. He answered what questions he could make out. Eventually, he got around to asking where he could find their queen.

Toothiana greeted him with a hug. She then began rattling off orders to the fairies that had assembled around Jack.

Jack felt his heart sink. Tooth _was_ busy.

But. Perhaps this was an opportunity.

"I thought you missed being out in the field."

Tooth blinked, stepping back into herself. Then, she smiled. "Now that you've mentioned it, my wings could use a stretch. And it _is_ promising to be a slow night."

A beat of silence passed. Jack grabbed at the tattered edges of his hope. "Mind if I come?"

"Of course not! You're an honorary tooth fairy as it is, Jack."

Jack was not afraid to admit her assurance made him tear up.

"Good. That's...good. Yeah, let's go."

Lesson learned. He would have to take initiative to keep their attention. Maybe he should approach North about regular get-togethers. 

**Author's Note:**

> My words were: gateway, flash, drifter, mistaken, jagged, sound, choke, distortion, queen, honorary.


End file.
